Anime News Network is now streaming Phi-Brain: Kami No Puzzle, or Puzzle of God if you prefer. What makes this show different from others is that each episode our protagonists have to solve problems and logic puzzles to survive rather than fight anyone. And the fact that you can legally watch it streaming online is always a plus.
The first film worth mentioning is Griff the Invisible, staring Jason from the True Blood series as a hapless superhero who meets Melody, a fellow traveler out to save him from himself. To me, this one holds the most promise, both because of the actors involved and the premise they explore. Another movie coming out this week that I am looking forward to seeing, even if it isn’t genre, is Flypaper, a romantic comedy in the midst of heavy gunfire. The final fictional film that might be worth looking into this week is Bite Marks, which may be cast into the overplayed field of vampires but could always have something new to offer.
Then there are the documentaries, of which there are several. Superheroes from HBO is just what you imagine; an exploration into those people who actually are real life caped crusaders, out to protect us all. Sea Rex: Journey to a Prehistoric World is both in IMAX and 3D, and mostly playing in museums, which is what makes it so collectable. A tribute to one of Sci-Fi’s great writers is also released this time around, The Magic Never Ends – The Life & Work of C.S. Lewis. If you are a fan of Narnia, you do not want to miss that one!
We have two live action TV shows of note this time around. Being Human: The Complete First Season is from the American series supported by the Syfy Channel, not the far superior UK show, but worth checking out even so. Then Whitechapel: The Ripper Returns is a UK program every bit as intense as the subject matter might make you suspect, and well worth watching.
Western animation has several programs worth watching, of which my personal favorite has to be Red vs. Blue: Season 9. Trust me when I say no animation you will watch this year will be more entertaining or important (unless it comes from Japan with an insanely good review). From the UK, Shaun the Sheep: Season 2 is the selection of choice, and almost as good as the Master Chief series. I should also mention Dreamworks Dragons: Gift of the Night Fury / Book of Dragons, which looks to be a hoot. Not only do we get a couple of additional animations from the series (I really like the way Dreamworks, Pixar, and a few others are willing to add new entertainment to the archives), but this one will set you up into online game mode if you are good enough to figure out its triggers.
In Anime we have two new presentations and several cost-effective reissues. First, ICE – Complete Collection gives us a virus, which has wiped out most of the population. The survivors are all beautiful women, and the choices they make will shape society for a thousand years. Then Bleach: Fade to Black is a stand-alone movie that gives us more of the back story of this incredible complex series.
There are also a few classic anime now released in more cost effective packaging, including Blassreiter, Love Hina, and Shuffle. I personally appreciate not having to pay the huge original price for a quality series, considering just how many series I find myself buying.
The TV show Misfits has run for two seasons in the UK with the third under way now, but hasn’t appeared on traditional TV over here yet. You can buy it from iTunes or watch it on Hulu Plus, however, and now you can download and play the Misfits Community Service Game App for free. They have versions available for both the iDevices and the Android OS, you can use the links on their page or search the appropriate marketplace directly. In the game, you are on the community service team performing tasks and are looking to make money and win popularity points. If you play well enough, you will be invited to cash them in for a new superpower and a fresh mission. At the whopping cost of free, I recommend any fan of the show tries this one out.
The folks over at SFX got together with the team from Spoken Word Audio and created a Sci-Fi Quiz App that runs on various iDevices. And unlike many of the BBC offerings, this one is available for us in the US as well. If you think you have what it takes to beat the quiz and you are in America, you can grab it here; if you are in the UK, use this link instead.
This should be fun; the folks at Bandai Namco Games have released a Gundam augmented reality game for the iPhone/iPad called Gundam Area Wars. As in most games, the goal is to take over the enemy bases by defeating them, thus growing your own forces for the next battle. The fun part is it uses the camera and GPS functions of the iDevices to show that enemy on your screen against your real world background. A word of caution; while the game itself is free, some mission orders and add-ons are purchased from inside the game. Depending on how that is set up, it could get pricey pretty fast. Thanks to Anime News Network for the heads up on this one.
Online gamers have solved the protein structure of AIDS, doing in 3 weeks what scientists had been trying to accomplish for ten years, according to the Cambridge BlueSci online magazine. That brings scientists a step closer to being able to design an attack vector for the virus and creating a vaccine and cure.
They pulled this off using an online multiplayer game called Foldit, where they attempt to manipulate 3D images of proteins to produce the highest scoring (lowest energy) structure. You are scored by how well you compact the protein, get rid of residues, and avoid spatial clashes. When you complete a puzzle you get a new puzzle as your reward. Human pattern analysis skill sets have yet to be programed into computers (although some projects for that are at the research stage), so this melding of the best skills from humans and computers has a world of potential for solving all kind of medical and organic chemistry problems, which could end up saving a lot of lives. Plus winning a good game is always fun; if you want to play yourself got to the Center for Game Science and download a free copy of the game.